Your Deepest Fear
by Deadly Poppy
Summary: You are walking down a dimly lit hall when you come to a room. Inside there is a violently shaking wardrobe. You throw it open, and there it is. Your worst nightmare; your deepest fear. And you can't escape it. What does your boggart turn into?
1. Preface

You are walking somewhere. Up a staircase, or down a corridor perhaps. The light is dim, but it isn't totally dark.

You come to a door. It is slightly ajar, and there is noise from the inside. You push the door fully open and step inside to investigate.

The noise seems to be coming from a piece of furniture. A dresser or wardrobe, probably wooden. You step cautiously, prepared for the worst.

Bracing yourself, you fling open the door and suddenly, there it is. Your worst nightmare; your deepest fear, if you will. Standing right there in front of you. And you can't escape it.


	2. Voldemort

The Dark Lord glided down the dark corridor.

"Lucius!" he bellowed. Even paler than usual, the man appeared from behind a door to Voldemort's left.

"My Lord," Lucius replied, closing his eyes as he spoke, as if too intimidated to look into his master's eyes. "We are having a small problem in the parlor.

"Problem?" Voldemort repeated icily. "What sort of problem?"

"A boggart, my lord."

"I shall see to it myself," Voldemort informed Lucius, much to his growing discomfort. Voldemort strode purposefully past him and into the room.

At that moment, Wormtail was standing in the middle of the room, cowering beneath James Potter, standing in front of him.

"Out of the way, fool!" Voldemort hissed to Wormtail, who happily obliged. Suddenly the image of James morphed, flitting between images before settling on the all to familiar form of Harry Potter.

In each hand the boy was holding something, both of which Voldemort knew would be the keys to his downfall. Slowly but purposefully, the fake Harry lifted the small silver chain. Wracking his brain for the spell he had thought so useless all those years ago in school, Voldemort concentrated on remembering the one word that would relieve him of having to face his one--and only--nightmare.

Just as the fake Harry was lifting the shining sword in his other hand, Voldemort thrust his sword out in front of him, shouting, "Ridikulus!" at him, resulting in Harry stabbing the locket with a rubbed sword.

Without a word to his followers, Voldemort turned in one fluid motion and strode quickly from the room.


	3. MadEye Moody

"Mad-Eye!" Tonks called, flitting to his side, knocking over the umbrella stand once again. "Oops! Anyway," she continued, lifting the stand. "We think there's a boggart in the upstairs bedroom wardrobe. Would you take a look at it?"

Mad-Eye Moody mumbled something unintelligible and lumbered up the stairs, throwing the door open.

Mad-Eye walked into the room to find Mrs. Weasley staring worriedly at a shaking wardrobe sizing up something seemingly invisible to the naked eye. "Boggart alright," he announced gruffly. "I'll take care of it."

Moody pointed at the wardrobe and it flew open, a flickering object shooting out. It only took a moment for it to settle on a small vial, filled with a shining, silvery liquid, soft whispers spilling out of it like a strange unseen mist.

"_Go on_," a soft, seductive voice cooed. "Spill _all_ your secrets. Tell _everyone all _about the Order. Tell _all_ of them _everything_."

"Ridikulus!" Mad-Eye bellowed, and the vial of silvery Veritaserum disappeared, leaving in its wake a pink, bubbly liquid.

"Ammortentia," Mad-Eye growled. "Silly, useless stuff."

And with that he stalked out of the room.


	4. Ginny Weasley & Nymphadora Tonks

"What does it say!?" Tonks shrieked. "What does the bloody thing say!?"

"Hold on!" Ginny snapped. "Would you just relax?"

"I can't relax! _What does it say_!?

Glaring at Tonks out of the corner of her eye, Ginny reread the instructions. "Why did you ask me to do this anyway?" she muttered under her breath.

"Because you can keep a secret," Tonks said softly, earning a small, sympathetic smile from Ginny.

"Okay, found it!" Ginny cried excitedly. "Okay, all you have to do is tap your abdomen and say, _Pregnaccio_; if it turns red, it's a, uh, no, and if it turns green it means, well, you know," she squealed excitedly.

Tonks took a deep breath and lifted her wand. Then she set it down. "I can't," she said pathetically.

"What?" Ginny asked. "Why not?"

"I'm scared. What if it's yes? Or what if it's no!"

"Well which do you want?" Ginny asked, concerned now.

"I don't know!" Tonks yelled at her. "Here, you do the spell!"

"I can't; I'm underage!" Ginny cried, exasperated.

"Oh. Right. Okay, then it's agreed that I'll do it," Tonks said decisively. Ginny just nodded, going along with it.

Taking another deep breath, Tonks lifted her wand again. "Okay," she said. "I'm gonna do it. Right now. Yep. Here I am, doing the spell. Right now. Yeah, I'm just-"

"Tonks, will you just do it already!?" Ginny screamed at her.

"Alright, alright, sheesh," Tonks muttered. She tapped her abdomen with her wand. "Pregnaccio," she whispered, as if the softer she said it, the less real it was.

"Nothing's happening," Tonks whispered furiously. "Ginny, _nothing's happening_!"

"Tonks, it's fine, I'm sure-"

"Nothing's happening, something must be wrong!"

"Tonks, I'm sure-"

But Tonks never heard what Ginny was sure of, because at that moment, the tip of her wand glowed bright, shining green.

"Does that look red to you?" Tonks whispered loudly.

"Of course not!" Ginny cried. "Why are you whispering anyway!? You dragged me to this shed in the middle of nowhere, three miles from my house, just so that no one would hear us!"

"Right, sorry," Tonks whispered. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"So, um, I'm…" was all Tonks could say.

"Yeah…" Ginny replied awkwardly. "So, are you gonna, you know, tell him?"

"Am I gonna tell him?" Tonks repeated sarcastically. "No, I think I'll just tell him I'm eating a whole lot of cheeseburgers and then when the baby finally pops out, I'll just act surprised, how does that sound?"

"Right, sorry," Ginny laughed.

Suddenly their uneasy chatter was disrupted by a loud banging noise from the next room.

"Oh my god!" Tonks screeched, jumping up.

"Where are you going!?" Ginny screamed.

"To find out what that is!" Tonks said in a DUH voice.

"Okay, okay, but from now on you can't just go risking you life. You have a baby to think of."

Tonks turned white. "Oh my god you're right. What if we die. What if there's a Death Eater in the next room!"

Tonks was borderline hysterical. "Stop!" Ginny whispered loudly. "Okay, I'll go check it out."

"Okay," Tonks said, and Ginny started to leave. "Wait! I can't let you go alone! Your mother would kill me!"

"Well come on!" Ginny told her.

And together they made their way to the other room (the only other room in the tiny building). It took about twenty seconds, then they were staring directly at a wardrobe, shaking violently.

"Boggart," Tonks and Ginny whispered at the same time.

"You can't do anything out of school. I'll take care of it."

Ginny stared pointedly at Tonks's stomach but didn't say anything.

Opening the door to the wardrobe, Tonks was suddenly faced with a strange object, flicking quickly between various unrecognizable blobs, before settling on a small baby.

Confused, Ginny and Tonks looked at each other strangely. But the tiny, fragile looking baby began to morph, slowly, until it's ears were longer and pointed, it's eyes fiery, and it didn't look like an innocent baby anymore.

In short, Tonks's worst fear was having a werewolf baby.

"Tonks!" Ginny cried. "The spell! Ridikulus!_ Ridikulus_!"

But Tonks just stood there, terrified. Of all the things to be worried about, in a time of death and evil at every turn, the truth of the matter was that her worst fear was that her unborn child would have a hard life.

Without thinking, Ginny stepped in front of Tonks, not bearing to see that horrible expression on her face.

Without hesitation, the boggart swapped to an image of Ginny, older, and considerably more round. As in pregnant.

Shocked, Tonks turned to face an unhappy looking Ginny. "Ridikulus!" Tonks shouted, doing away with the boggart once and for all.

"You are afraid to be a mother," Tonks told Ginny.

"Thank you, Mrs. Obvious," Ginny responded, turning on her heal to leave.

"I'm gonna be a mother," she said.

"Yes!" Ginny yelled, turning to face Tonks. "You are going to be a mother, and I could never do that! It terrifies the hell out of me, because I could never be like my mother! I would screw the kid up! And who are you to talk! Your kid might be a werewolf!"

Tonks turned white again and Ginny instantly regretted her words.

"Tonks, I-"

"It's okay," she said, her hair and eyes losing all color, something that frequently happened when she was genuinely upset about something.

"I'm serious. It was a total slip. I was angry. Please, please, please forgive me. I really, really didn't mean it."

Tonks nodded, her hair returning to it's previously orangey color. "It's alright. Come one, let's go home. I won't tell anyone your fear if you will please swear not to tell mine."

Ginny agreed, and they walked home arm in arm.


	5. Luna Lovegood

"And what's this one?" Katie Bell asked curiously, pointing to a photograph that was blurred beyond recognition.

"That's a Nargle, can't you tell?" Luna Lovegood responded. Katie held the picture closer ad closer until she'd smudged it with her nose.

Being exceptionally kind and trusting (and perhaps a little gullible), Katie Bell had developed somewhat of an attachment to Luna, being as it was that she'd joined the Order the moment she'd graduated and was now living with the Weasleys.

"And what do they do?" Katie asked, eyes wide.

"Oh, everything!" Luna cried. "They sing, and steal ice-cream on Valentines Day, and eat only orange foods! They even fly!"

This was a bit far-fetched, even for Katie, but the twinkle in Luna's eye was so genuine that both girls seemed entranced in thoughts of Nargles and other such creatures.

Suddenly, from the creek ten feet from where they were sitting, there was a loud splash, followed by several smaller splashes.

"Must be a Fillywiddle!" Luna exclaimed dreamily. "We should go see!"

The two girls hurried to the water's edge, where they saw a pile of rocks shaking violently and threatening to fall over.

"Not a Fillywiddle then," Luna said sadly. "They love sunlight."

"I'll bet it's a boggart!' Katie exclaimed. "We should go tell someone. I don't particularly fancy my worst fear showing up right here, thank you very much."

So they stumbled back up the stream bed, but Luna slipped. Katie grabbed her arm, trying to hold her up, but she slipped down and knocked over the small pile of rocks.

And out popped the same whirring, flickering object that you have come to know by now. Only…it was spinning and flickering faster than usual.

And it didn't stop. On the contrary, the whirring and flickering and morphing sped up, faster than ever, until suddenly it exploded in a small puff of black smoke.

"Luna?" Katie asked after a long moment of silence. "What exactly are you afraid of"

"Boggarts."

*********

**_"We have nothing to fear but fear itself."_**


	6. Severus Snape

**This is dedicated to you; you know who you are! And if you don't, you aren't nearly as smart as I give you credit for.**

*********

Severus Snape's office was lonely. Students came to classes, he taught them, they left with their heads down, a few select students came back to class for detention with their heads down, and left with their heads down.

No one ever went into his office. Including Snape.

Having attended Hogwarts as a kid, Snape had spent a great deal of time on that office. It had been Slughorn's office.

As Snape have been an exceptionally good student in Potions, he had often been invited to Slughorn's various parties, but his many Potions accomplishments were not what he thought of every time he set foot in his office. Nor was it the times he'd been called in to discuss his "delicate situation" with James Potter, meaning the bullying. No, it was one of the few times he'd been called in because he was in trouble.

Because he'd called Lily Evans a Mudblood.

And so it was that Snape's office was more of a dust-gathering library as opposed to an office. And so it was hardly a surprise when he discovered that a boggart had taken up residence in his desk.

Snape wasn't sure how long it had been there when he found it. All he knew was that under no circumstances was he opening that drawer. He wasn't quite sure what he was most afraid of, but he knew it would be bad. And he knew he didn't want it standing in front of him.

But what choice did he have? Knock on McGonagall's door and tell her he was afraid of a boggart? Not likely.

Taking a deep breath, he pointed his wand at the drawer, which then flew open, and out came the all too familiar flickering, whirring object.

There was a flash of red hair, and two sparkling green eyes, glistening with tears, and with a sinking feeling, Snape realized his boggart was going to turn into Lily Evans.

But it didn't. as if fickle, long red hair turned short, black, and unruly, and green eyes turned to hazel ones, burning with hate.

James Potter, age seventeen, was standing in front of Severus Snape.

Snape recognized the expression on James's face immediately. He wasn't looking cocky or conceited as per usual with James. His expression was one of pure hatred, as if someone had hurt the woman he loved.

"Ridikulus!" Severus yelled, and suddenly James Potter morphed into Colin Creevey holding a broken camera. But Severus couldn't get that expression of pure and unadulterated loathing on James's face.

And he never would.


	7. They Aren't Always What You'd Expect

They haunt your worst nightmares; they hide under your bed at night. We can't ever escape them. Ever.

A boggart isn't an animal. It isn't an object or a strange curse. A boggart is a state of mind, created centuries ago by the deepest of darkest magic.

They aren't things we fear for fear of bodily harm. They do not turn into spine-chilling frights or things that go bump in the night. No, boggarts go so much deeper than that. They take the form of the one thing that will truly kill you, not physically but emotionally. The one thing that will eat away at your soul, scrape away at your very essence, until you are nothing.

And they aren't always what you'd expect.


End file.
